Deri acts to revoke Haifa murderer's citizenship

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri requested today (Monday) that Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit consent to starting the procedure canceling citizenship of murderer Muhammad Shinawi, who carried out a shooting attack in Haifa early last month which killed Guy Kafri and injured Rabbi Yechiel Iluz.

Deri's request of Mandelblit is based upon the Nationality Law, under which consent of the Attorney General is required before appealing to the Administrative Court to revoke the murderer's Israeli citizenship.

"Abusing one's status in Israel, especially that of citizenship, in order to maim and kill civilians is inexcusable," said Deri and promised, "I will act with determination to revoke the status of those Israelis."

The Interior Minister stressed that "there is no need to elaborate on the importance of Israeli citizenship, which contains within it an obligation of loyalty between the citizen and his country, and the country and its citizens."

Shinawi was interrogated by Shin Bet internal security service agents, to whom he acknowledged that the shooting had targeted Jews and was motivated by anti-Semitism.

Shinawi told investigators that while looking for a target, he had spotted a haredi man walking down the street, followed after him, and then opened fire, leaving the man, Rabbi Iluz, seriously injured.

While fleeing the scene of the attack, Shinawi spotted a Jewish woman and opened fire, though he missed his target. Making his way back to the Halisa neighborhood, Shinawi spotted Kafri and shot him to death.

The Haifa District Attorney's Office filed an indictment against Shinawi in the city's District Court, among other things, for murder, attempted murder, and terror-related weapons handling.